ft* 


A  DISCOURSE 


DELIVERED  ON 


Sabbath  Bemidbar,  Sivan  the  2d, 

(May   28,   1892) 


IT   BEING   THE 


Thirty-Second  Anniversary  of  the  Consecration 
of  the  Synagogue, 

ON   SEVENTH   STREET   ABOVE   ARCH, 


S    MORAIS. 


StecR 

Annex 

5 


SYNAGOGUE    CHAMBERS, 

K.  K.  MICKVfi   ISRAEL, 
117  Xorth  Seventh  Street. 

PHILADELPHIA,  June  10,  1892. 
DEAR  DR.  MORAIS  : 

I  listened  with  much  interest  to  your  sermon  on  the  Sabbath 
morning  of  May  28th,  it  being  the  thirty-second  anniversary 
of  the  dedication  of  our  Synagogue.  I  feel  that  the  perusal 
of  that  discourse  must  awaken  thoughts  promotive  of  Jewish 
interests.  I  would  very  much  like  that  you  allow  me  to  have 
it  published  in  pamphlet  form  for  distribution  among  the 
congregation,  to  whose  spiritual  needs  you  minister. 

Yours  very  truly, 
DAVID  H.  Sous,  Parnas  K.  K.  MICKYE  ISRAEL. 


MR.  DAVID  H.  SOLIS,  Parnas  of  K.  K.  MICKVE  ISRAEL. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

Our  intercourse  must  have  given  you  an  idea  of  my  dispo- 
sition. I  am  loth  to  appear  in  print.  Of  course,  in  my 
capacity,  I  must  often  submit. 

The  discourse  which  you  wish  me  to  have  published  was 
meant  only  for  those  of  our  congregation  who  attended  the 
service  on  the  day  I  delivered  it.  You  think  that  it  may  be 
read  with  some  benefit  by  others  who  were  absent.  I  yield  to 
your  wish.  Yours  truly, 

S.  MORAIS. 
Sivan,  5652. 
June,  1892. 


21176R9 


A  Discourse  by  Dr.  Morais  before  the 
Mickve  Israel  Congregation. 


:  —  For  two  consecutive  weeks 
I  had  been  looking  forward  to  the  occasion  when  I  might 
opportunely  perform  a  duty,  not  pleasurable  I  confess 
at  any  time,  still  imperative  very  many  times  —  the  duty 
of  asking  assistance.  Those  among  my  brethren  who 
attended  the  Divine  services  in  this  synagogue  last 
Sabbath  and  that  which  preceded  it  will  readily  under- 
stand why  I  kept  silent  when  I  was  eager  to  speak.  To 
plead  for  any  cause,  when  persons  who  have  it  in  their 
power  to  help,  and  whom  the  speaker  may  hope  to  influ- 
ence for  good,  are  absent,  is  an  idle  undertaking.  It 
would,  however,  serve  no  purpose  to  discuss  at  this  point 
the  reasonableness  or  unreasonableness  of  the  absence. 
Suffice  that  it  existed  and  prevented  my  appealing  in 
behalf  of  an  object  which  I  hold  dear. 

In  conjunction  with  the  Parnas  of  this  congregation, 
who  is  also  the  President  of  the  Philadelphia  Branch  of 
the  Jewish  Theological  Seminary  Association,  I  recently 
informed  the  readers  of  the  fewis/i  Exponent  that  a 
spacious  and  in  every  way  suitable  building  had  been 
bought  for  the  use  of  students,  who,  under  the  guidance 
of  Providence,  will  become  reliable  ministers  of  their 
people's  religion.  To  that  information,  intended  for  the 
Hebrew  community  at  large,  I  designed  to  have  added 
from  this  pulpit  an  earnest  solicitation  that  might  secure 
free-will  gifts  toward  the  full  payment  of  the  dwelling 
and  the  furnishing  -of  its  apartments.  I  meant  also  to 
request  those  of  my  fellow-congregants  who  are  not  yet 
connected  with  the  organization,  to  make  the  list  of  its 
subscribers  and  patrons  swell  in  size.  An  appeal  to  that 


•effect,  even  this  day,  would  not  be  inopportune,  but 
while  I  crave  that  the  simple  mention  of  my  wish  may 
elicit  a  favorable  response,  I  find  that  to  dwell  now  at 
length  upon  that  topic  would  be  quite  out  of  time. 

This  Sabbath  recalls  an  occurrence  forcibly  directing 
our  thoughts  to  another  channel.  Thirty-two  years 
ago,  on  the  third  day  of  Sivan,  V  ay  24,  this  comely 
edifice  was  first  entered  with  thanksgivings  and  praises 
to  Israel's  God.  It  was  then  fondly  anticipated  by  the 
participants  in  the  consecration  that  the  prediction  of 
Haggai,  concerning  the  erection  of  the  second  Temple, 
would  be  fulfilled  in  our  minor  sanctuary,  namely: 
"Greater  will  be  the  glory  of  the  latter  house  than  that 
of  the  former,  and  in  this  place  I  will  give  you  peace, 
says  the  Lord  of  hosts."  Grateful,  indeed,  we  ought  to 
feel  that  peace  did  reign  here.  We  proceeded  in  a 
uniformly  even  course  and  avoided  wranglings,  which 
not  infrequently  have  created  heart-burnings  and 
divisions  among  congregations.  But  the  prophecy 
touching  the  greater  glory  which  we  yearned  after,  the 
glory  of  a  large  accession  of  adherents  to  the  principles' 
which  our  synagogue  represents,  was  not  accomplished. 
Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  a  schism,  of  which,  thank 
God,  I  am  entirely  innocent — a  schism  brought  about 
by  personal  preferences  while  we  still  worshipped  in  the 
Cherry  Street  Synagogue — was  fortunately  healed;  not- 
withstanding that  we  welcomed  back  brothers  and 
sisters  in  faith,  who  during  a  period,  had  assembled  for 
prayer  in  another  spot,  still  the  increase  of  attendants 
to  our  Divine  services  did  not  grow  remarkably.  But 
how  painfully  must  the  decrease  affect  Israelites  who 
still  share  my  views ! 

Doubtless  many  familiar  faces  are  missing,  because 
Nature  will  inexorably  exact  her  due.  The  old  must 
die ;  unhappily,  not  a  few  were  also  called  hence  when 
yet  in  the  bloom  of  existence.  Some  have  likewise 


moved  to  other  cities,  and  many  have  transferred  their 
residences  to  a  great  distance  from  this  locality. 

But  it  would  be  self-deception  to  ignore  what  has 
vastly  militated  against  the  religious  interests  of  the 
venerable  body,  bearing  the  title  of  "Mickve  Israel.'' 
When  I  assumed  its  lead  over  forty-one  years  ago,  not 
a  Jewish  congregation  could  be  met  in  our  city  that 
would  assume  such  an  aspect  as  noticed  very  generally 
at  present.  The  ritual  was  everywhere  Hebrew,  the 
sexes  kept  separate,  the  men  remained  with  their  heads 
covered,  the  chanting  of  the  liturgy  was  performed  by 
the  Kazan,  and  in  exceptional  instances  only  he  was 
aided  by  a  male  choir  of  co-religionists.  All  that  has 
altered.  I  shall  let  others  than  myself  judge  whether 
the  change  has  proved  advantageous  to  the  faith  or 
vice-versa.  I  merely  rehearse  facts,  not  in  the  least 
induced  to  do  so  by  a  spirit  of  malevolence. 

With  the  ministerial  consent  to  a  gradual  and  finally 
almost  total  abolition  of  the  Hebrew  in  the  services, 
there  followed,  as  a  logical  sequence,  the  unwillingness 
of  children  to  gain  a  knowledge  of  it,  and  of  parents  to 
enforce  its  study.  The  Hebrew  became  useless  as  a 
vehicle  to  congregational  invocations  and  psalmody. 
There  was  still  left  the  occasional  memorizing  of  a  chap- 
ter from  the  Pentateuch,  or  the  learning  by  rote  of  a 
benediction — either  practice  barren  of  religious  fruits  - 
but  in  many  cases  not  even  the  declaration  of  God's 
Oneness — the  Shcmang — remained  for  our  little  sons  and 
daughters  to  study  by  heart.  Can  any  reasonable  person 
wonder  that  the  religious  exercises  as  rendered  here,  lost 
much  of  their  value  in  the  sight  of  the  uninstructed, 
and  failed  to  retain  among  us  the  rising  generation  ? 

Again :  Women  of  Israel  who  would  never  have 
thought  of  complaining  for  having  a  department 
assigned  to  them  in  our  synagogue,  Jewesses  who  had 
not  considered  it  at  all  disparaging  to  their  sex  to  sit 


5 

where  a  Miss  Rebecca  Gratz,  a  Miss  Louisa  B.  Hart, 
and  like  pious  and  socially  noted  sisters  in  faith  sat, 
upon  visiting  places  which  adopted  a  different  system, 
were  led  to  deem  the  ancient  usage  preserved  by  us  an 
invidious  distinction — perhaps  an  intended  affront. 
They  would  not  be  pointed  at  tauntingly  by  their  female 
associates  as  objects  of  proscriptive  rules  when  in  the 
dwelling  of  prayer.  They  deserted  it. 

Again :  Many  years  ago,  when  I  officiated  at  the 
Cherry  Street  Synagogue,  a  member  of  our  religious 
body,  by  no  means  given  to  cavil,  lamented  in  my 
presence  the  necessity  of  staying  the  whole  Day  of 
Atonement  in  a  place  of  worship  with  the  ordinary 
man's  head  cover.  I  interposed  the  remark  that  a 
lighter  covering  would  not  expose  him  to  adverse  criti- 
cism, and  he  acted  accordingly.  Had  my  brother  been 
living  now,  on  seeing  the  very  minister  open  the  Holy 
Ark  bareheaded,  read  the  Law  bareheaded,  and  thus 
deposit  it  again  in  the  sacred  shrine,  he  might  have 
declined  to  act  on  my  suggestion — he  might  have  refused 
to  enter  altogether  these  precincts.  That  not  a  few 
would  have  approved  of  his  resolve,  the  paucity  of  our 
number  among  youths,  too  obviously  attests. 

Again  :  Jews  are  by  a  law  of  heredity  fond  of  music. 
A  discordant  tone  grates  on  their  ears.  Nevertheless, 
formerly  they  would  bear  with  shortcomings  in  that  line 
while  among  us.  They  recognized  the  importance  of 
making  all  participants  in  the  Divine  service,  and  appre- 
ciated the  almost  insurmountable  difficulty  of  training 
and  retaining  long  without  compensation,  several  whose 
harmonious  chanting  would  hide  the  deficiencies  of 
some  of  the  inharmonious.  The  idea  of  engaging 
strangers  to  our  faith,  as  substitutes  for  a  Jewish  con- 
gregation, would  have  been  very  foreign  to  their  concep- 
tion of  an  honest  worship  of  the  Unity.  But  since 
Rabbis  have  sanctioned  what  an  unbiased  judgment 


refuses  to  approve,  laymen  have  begun  to  doubt  their 
own  understanding,  and  without  taking  the  trouble  to 
think,  they  prefer  spots  where  attractive  songs  resound, 
even  if  the  service  be  incompatible  with  reason. 

Xow,  my  fellow-congregants,  I  have  set  before  you  a 
plain  but  correct  statement  of  the  causes  which  have 
done  our  Miekve  Israel  harm.  Let  me,  with  equal  candor, 
with  no  malice  aforethought,  speak  as  education,  as 
early  associations,  as  a  long  experience,  and  as  a  sense 
of  obligation  dictate. 

The  Hebrew  language  is  very  dear  to  me.  I  have 
made  it  my  cherished  study  from  childhood  to  old  age. 
In  it  my  mother  delighted  to  hear  her  boy  chant  bene- 
dictions and  hymns.  It  has  proved,  moreover,  a  solace 
to  my  heart  in  many  a  vicissitude,  and  because  I  can 
truly  say  with  the  Psalmist,  "Had  not  Thy  Torah  been 
my  delight  I  might  have  perished  in  my  affliction,"  there- 
fore I  am  profoundly  attached  to  it.  Still,  I  think  that 
I  could  make  the  sacrifice  and  part  with  what  I  love  if  I 
possessed  the  moral  certainty  that  by  so  doing  I  would 
benefit  Judaism  in  America.  Nay,  if  I  could  improve 
the  status  of  even  this  congregation  alone.  But  would 
the  rising  generation  grow  more  devotional,  more  fond 
of  God's  house,  if,  for  its  sake,  I  introduced  an  innova- 
tion causing  a  fatal  break  in  that  solidarity  which  has 
existed  in  Israel  since  the  men  of  the  Great  vSynod 
formulated  a  Hebrew  ritual,  constituting  in  the  main 
the  accepted  liturgy  throughout  Jewdom?  No;  our 
youths  would  not  be  attracted  for  any  length  of  time  by 
a  service  in  the  vernacular.  They  would  clamor  for 
more — and  always  for  more.  Influenced  by  surround- 
ings, which  I  must  call  pernicious,  they  would  soon 
insist  on  the  repudiation  of  doctrines  and  beliefs,  of 
hopes  and  aspirations  embodied  in  our  venerated 
Hebrew  formulary.  Meanwhile  the  alterations  intro- 
duced would  have  estranged  some  who  prefer  from  con- 


viction,  or  habit — if  you  so  choose  to  term  it — the 
ancient  regime.  An  irreparable  schism  and  dire  con- 
tentions would  follow,  and  I  would  be  left  to  weep  during 
the  few  years  that  I  may  yet  remain  on  earth,  over  the 
sad  effect  of  my  shortsightedness  and  unpardonable 
indiscretion. 

There  have  been  periods  during  my  long  incumbency 
when  I  strongly  advocated  a  shorter  and  simpler  service 
based  on  Biblical  and  Talmudical  teachings — a  Hebrew 
service  concluded  with  English  vocal  songs,  appropriate 
and  inspiring.  It  was  more  especially  before  the  Centen- 
nial Anniversary  of  American  Independence  that,  long- 
ing for  Unity  in  Israel  of  the  United  States,  I  proposed 
a  plan  for  a  uniform  ritual.  Encouraged  in  it,  I 
submitted  a  series  of  articles  which  circulated  to  a  con- 
siderable extent.  I  had  been  led  by  clerical  friends  to 
anticipate  happy  results — useless  efforts!  Since  then 
innumerable  have  been  the  prayer-books,  the  issue  of 
individual  will,  more  or  less  objectionable,  from  a  con- 
servative point  of  view.  Among  them  are  reckoned  some 
extremely  faulty  in  diction  and  in  sense,  others  forming 
a  medley  of  English  and  German  with  a  sprinkling  of 
Hebrew. 

Soon  the  disciples  of  a  Minister,  who  early  took  the 
longer  step  toward  arriving  at  the  state  of  synagogual 
confusion,  which  I  deprecate,  will  assemble  to  try  their 
hands  at  a  reconstruction.  I  summon  the  past  as  a 
witness  that  I  malign  no  one  wrhen  I  state  that  from  the 
convention  now  in  contemplation,  we  may  expect  only 
a  negation  of  what  is  characteristically  Jewish. 

But  I  must  control  painful  feelings,  even  if  con- 
fronted with  the  mischievous  results  of  a  tuition  that 
has  set  the  written  and  oral  Law  at  defiance,  that  has 
heedlessly  severed  the  links  of  a  silvery  chain  which 
was  wont  to  hold  Hebrew  families  in  sweet  accord  of 
religious  sentiment  together.  I  am  powerless  in  the 


face  of  the  prevailing-  evil,  and  I  shall  not  assume  a  use- 
less censorship.  I  dare  not,  however,  conceal  from 
those  under  my  immediate  guidance  the  danger  of 
being  dragged  in  the  whirlpool  of  "reform."  Let  me 
say  it  unequivocally.  I  can  never  agree  to  the  abroga- 
tion of  the  Hebrew,  tearing  my  very  heart's  strings,  and 
sundering  apart  this  religious  body  confided  to  m}' 
guardianship,  in  order  to  please  the  inconsiderate  who 
look  upon  the  culture  of  the  Sinaic  language  as  purpose- 
less and  burdensome,  while  spending  years  on  so-called 
accomplishments  of  no  real  value. 

Now,  I  have  heard  with  unfeigned  regret  that 
brethren  whose  presence  in  this  synagogue  I  had  once 
more  hailed  with  pleasure,  keep  again  aloof  because 
their  female  relatives  are  compelled  to  mount  up  many 
steps  to  reach  their  seats.  I  have  even  read  of  an 
alleged  intimation  to  agitate  the  question  of  "family 
pews."  In  all  sincerity  I  repeat  it,  I  have  learned  that 
news  with  sorrow,  particularly  so  since  I  am  told  that 
dear  personal  friends  of  mine  are  among  the  females 
who  complain.  Would  I  not  gladly  favor  sisters  in 
faith,  whose  presence  increases  the  size  of  the  congre- 
gation on  Sabbath  and  Holiday  mornings  remarkably  ? 
Most  assuredly  I  would.  But  were  I  to  ignore  a  rule 
that  has  been  in  force  at  least  from  the  building  of  the 
second  Temple  to  this  day  wherever  our  people  meet  in 
prayer,  except  during  the  last  four  or  five  decades  in 
some  American  houses  of  worship;  were  I,  in  my  wish 
to  oblige  sisters  to  whom  the  Jewish  method,  which  we 
still  respect,  brings  fatigue,  inclined  to  deviate  from 
that  almost  universal  rule  in  Israel,  I  still  could  not 
recognize  a  cogent  reason  for  trespassing.  For  what  is 
set  forth  as  the  impelling  motive  for  encroaching  upon 
the  ancestral  custom?  The  desirableness  of  sitting 
here,  husbands  and  their  wives,  brothers  and  their 
sisters,  parents  and  their  children  together,  as  in  their 


private  domiciles.  But  when  would  that  desire  be 
accomplished?  Not  every  Sabbath,  nor  every  Festival, 
possibly  once  or  twice  through  the  whole  year.  Where 
the  plausible  reason  for  a  change  falls  to  the  ground^ 
to  attempt  it  is  in  my  mind  an  inexcusable  act.  I  can 
see  no  objection  for  a  mother  holding  beside  her  in  the 
gallery  her  little  boy,  or  the  father  below  his  small  girl,, 
but  anomalous  would  appear  to  me  the  presence  in  this 
auditorium  of  single  or  married  Jewesses,  unaccom- 
panied by  their  adult  male  relatives.  Perhaps  I  labor- 
under  strong  impressions  early  received,  and  am  influ- 
enced by  Rabbinical  instruction.  Such,  at  all  events,. 
is  my  manner  of  thinking,  hence  my  decided  reluctance 
to  do  violence  to  my  convictions — altering  what  my 
superiors  have  enacted. 

Respecting  the  question  of  remaining  bareheaded  in 
synagogue,  a  question  which  has  assumed  undue  pro- 
portions, as  if  the  life  or  death  of  Judaism  hinged  upon 
it,  I  confess  that  I  look  on  our  yielding  to  the  habits  of 
Gentilism  as  cowardice — pardon  the  expression.  For 
what  has  urged  the  occupants  of  Jewish  pulpits  to  insist 
upon  male  attendants  at  the  synagogue  removing  their 
hats?  What,  but  in  most  cases  the  fear  that  Christians 
may  style  Jews  ill-bred,  unrefined,  perchance,  impolite 
toward  the  ladies?  How  very  strenuous  the  personal 
and  literary  endeavors  of  American  Rabbis  in  that 
direction !  I  have  read  essays  and  pamphlets  aiming  to 
prove  that  Jews  ought  to  remain  bareheaded  when 
praying.  For  some  leaders  of  the  "reform"  wing  in  our 
ranks  are  learned  and  they  can  cleverly  quote  Talmudists 
and  casuistical  writers — whom,  however,  they  ordinarily 
cast  aside — when  those  authorities  can  inferentially  be 
construed  as  favoring  certain  innovations.  Thus  it  has 
happened  that  despite  the  mention  of  Miznefetli,  Zanif 
and  Migba'ah  as  head  coverings  used  by  priests  and 
laymen,  despite  the  circumstance  that  no  less  a  philoso- 


10 

pher  than  Maimonides  commends  in  his  "Moreh"  the 
olden  usage,  our  modern  leaders  would  have  us  believe 
that  what  the  Michve  Israel  Congregation  adheres  to 
lacks  foundation,  and  ought  to  be  abolished.  But  I 
would  never  consent,  while  I  do  admit  that  questions 
of  infinitely  greater  importance  ought  to  occupy  our 
minds. 

Yes;  we  should  ponder,  so  as  to  devise  means  how  to 
hinder  further  inroads  into  sacred  ground.  Why  are 
cenain  places  of  Jewish  worship,  that  have  made  all 
manner  of  concessions,  weakening  as  to  their  numerical 
strength ;  why  do  the  spiritual  guardians  thereof  bewail 
the  loss  of  attendants  on  the  morning  of  the  Lord's 
Sabbath?  Have  they  not  elaborate  songs  and  profes- 
sional singers?  Have  they  not  invited  female  congre- 
gants below?  Have  they  not  permitted  male  con- 
gregants to  follow  their  own  option  regarding  a  cover 
on  their  heads?  Have  they  not  interlarded  Hebrew 
invocations  with  English  and  German  hymns?  Have 
they  not  advocated  the  shortest  service  and  the  most 
attractive  representations  to  please  the  eye  and  charm 
the  ear?  That  I,  uncompromisingly  attached  to  a 
service  for  the  people,  by  the  people,  performed  in  great 
simplicity  and  inexpensively,  should  behold  the  thinning 
of  our  files,  can  be  easily  explained  in  these  days  of 
high-wrought  services  and  sumptuous  temples,  but  that 
others  who  moved  with  the  current,  not  to  bear  the 
reproach  of  being  behind  the  age,  should  lament,  would 
seem  passing  strange. 

But  vain  have  proved  their  efforts!  They  have  gone 
far,  but  not  far  enough.  They  cannot  cope  with  col- 
leagues who  have  thrown  down  the  gauntlet  and  defied 
all  tenets  and  ordinances,  all  rules  and  customs ;  who 
have  turned  their  backs  upon  "  chosen  Israel,"  so  as  to 
call  over  a  large  following  from  the  opposite  side.  That 
accession  of  number,  foreign  to  the  Sinaic  covenant, 


1 1 

may  belong  to  "Unitarianism."  It  is  welcome  No 
pledge  of  obedience  to  the  Abrahamic  rite,  to  dietary 
prescriptions,  to  Sabbath,  to  Festivals  or  Fasts  will  be 
demanded.  Adherence  to  "a  Judaism  pure  and  simple," 
with  Biblical  and  traditional  Judaism  studiously  left 
out,  is  the  requirement.  It  mainly  consists  in  visiting 
on  a  leisure  day,  at  a  leisure  hour,  spots  where  eloquence 
enraptures  and  music  enravishes. 

My  hearers:  Not  once,  but  often  I  have  openly, 
unreservedly  expressed  in  your  presence  my  deepest 
conviction  respecting  assemblages  of  the  character 
which  I  have  just  delineated.  The  men  and  women 
who  constitute  such  are  my  fellow-creatures,  whom  I 
will  gladly  join  under  any  circumstance  in  whatever 
helps  humanity.  They  are  my  neighbors,  whom  my  re- 
ligion commands  that  I  shall  always  love  as  myself  and 
heartily  serve  to  allay  personal  ills,  and  farther  personal 
interests,  but  as  ''Jewish  congregations"  I  am  forbid  to 
recognize  them. 

In  my  mind  there  can  be  but  one  alternative;  we 
must  either  hold  on  to  ancestral  Judaism  at  the  cost  of 
the  sacrifice  of  means,  of  time  and  bodily  enjoyments, 
or  avow  our  abjuration.  We  cannot  deceive  God.  We 
cannot  subscribe  ourselves  the  disciples  of  Moses,  the 
Prophets  and  the  Sages  while  deliberately  trampling 
under  foot  all  their  behests. 

One  thought  more  before  we  part  this  morning. 
When  Joshua  had  grown  old,  expecting  soon  to  leave 
the  people  he  had  fought  for  and  guided,  he  convened 
together  the  representatives  of  the  tribes  and  inquired 
whether,  being  in  possession  of  a  land  which  they  could 
call  their  own,  and  of  all  which  contributes  to  make  life 
pleasurable,  they  would  keep  loyal  to  their  protective 
Lord.  The  answer  was  affirmative.  The  conscientious 
chief  did  not  rest  satisfied  with  the  promise.  He  gave 
a  solemn  warning/  He  pictured  the  difficulty  of  carry- 


12 


ing  it  out  in  the  presence  of  numerous  enticements. 
He  denned  the  moral  courage  needed  to  stand  by  the 
Torah  with  its  vigorous  demands  and  pointed  out  the 
effects  of  per-jury  and  infidelity.  .  .  .  The  thirty- 
two  years  I  have  officiated  in  this  sanctuary,  besides  the 
nine  and  upward  in  the  preceding  one,  have  shown 
changes  that  have  terribly  shaken  my  faith  in  the  con- 
sistency of  my  Philadelphia  co-religionists.  I  have  wit- 
nessed startling  events,  which,  when  I  entered  into  the 
service  of  my  Master,  I  would  have  imagined  impossible 
— a  perfect  transformation  in  the  mode  of  thinking  and 
acting  of  families  and  individuals,  for  whose  stanch 
adherence  to  the  statutes  I  might  have  pledged  my  word 
of  honor.  .  .  .  May  I  not  live  to  see  still  worse.  At 
all  events,  neither  by  precept  nor  by  example,  will  I 
ever  lead  my  flock  astray.  By  the  help  of  my  Maker,  I 
will,  despite  age  and  ailments,  try  to  work  on  in  order 
to  confirm  the  strong  in  the  Jewish  belief  and  strengthen 
the  weak.  I  will,  to  the  last,  foster  the  cultivation  of  a 
knowledge  which  I  deem  of  paramount  importance  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  bond  which  ought  to  fasten 
Israel  together  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
habitable  globe. 

Joy  will  it  be  to  me  always  to  feel  that  this  "Hope  of 
Israel"  is  not  lost,  that  the  expectations  which  it  aroused 
in  its  founders,  in  many  who  saw  the  consecration  of 
our  holy  house,  and  in  the  sainted  ones  who  have 
endowed  it  with  the  tokens  of  their  affection,  will  be 
revived. 

May  the  young  rejuvenate  us,  so  that  in  the 
language  of  Hosea,  forming  the  closing  declaration  of 
our  Haftarah,  a  newer  era  of  God's  espousal  with  us 
may  speedily  dawn.  "I  will  betroth  thee  forever;  I  will 
betroth  thee  rightfully  and  justly  in  loving  kindness 
and  benevolence.  I  will  betroth  thee  with  faithfulness, 
and  thou  shalt  know  the  protecting  Lord." 


| 
ZJI  I 


